United Nations, Geneva at 5AM

When I went to Geneva, Switzerland, I had to make some ad hoc changes to my plan. I landed at about 11 PM. My plan was to take a 5.46 AM train to Bern (and then to Interlaken). So I didn’t want to spend on a hotel for few hours. I decided to take a walk in the town at 11PM. I walked towards the Geneva lake. But the ambiance was not very encouraging. The streets were full of people both black and white with bottles, in various stages of alcoholic influence. Prostitutes on the street and guys standing by the corner observing everything around. Near the Geneva lake there were groups of people indulging in drunken talking, overall this was not the kind of welcome I expected in Switzerland and I didn’t feel very comfortable/safe roaming around. So I walked back to the Geneve railway station by midnight. But the counter that sells Swiss Pass (costs 210 Euros, but gives nearly unlimited access to all bus/train and trams in Switzerland) would open only at 8AM. Buying individual tickets could have cost a lot, plus takes away flexibility of being able to board any train/tram/bus anywhere. So I had to trade off 2 hours- instead of 5.47 train, I could only take 8.11 Am train, which meant I had couple of hours to spare exploring Geneva town. I slept for few hours in the Railway station waiting room and went out for a walk at about 5 AM. Now the streets were clear. It was cold but I could move forward. Referring to Google maps I walked towards United Nations. An organization of which several countries including India is member of.

Of course there was nothing I could do infront of United Nations building at 5 AM. I took some pictures of the broken chair (a piece of art) and took lots of photos of the UN building. India flag was not in the front, so I couldn’t locate it. United Nations opens for public on select days and at select hours. The day when I was in Switzerland was not one of those days. Visiting UN was not my priority either. I walked further to take a look at a museum building(which would again open at 10 AM). But its reflection in water was nice, so after some photography I moved towards the Geneva Lake.

United Nations Geneva, Switzerland- visitor Information

The broken chair- a 12 meter, made out of wood sculpture by a swiss artist